Public Service Minister comments on fired teachers

Charles Gibson

A total of twelve teachers have been fired as a result of the merger of three high schools in Belize City. It means that if the Ministry of Education has its way, they will not be able to teach in the upcoming school year. But the group of teachers from Maud Williams, Sadie Vernon and Excelsior High Schools is fighting back and has sought the guidance of the Belize National Teachers Union. They are seeking clarity on the grounds for their termination. Earlier today, we caught up with the Minister of Public Service, Charles Gibson who says that their dismissal was determined on their qualification or in this case, the lack of.

Charles Gibson, Minister of Public Service

“I am not fully knowledgeable of that particular process because the public services as you may know is divided into the public services commission and you have the Teachers’ Commission. We don’t handle the teachers as such; we do the mainstream public officers. But I am really certain that what is being done with that, as I have heard, is as transparent as possible. And what I have been made to understand is that there are a number of teachers over the years, which the Ministry of Education feels that they need to get themselves qualified. I know that it is not something new that has just jumped out of the books, so to speak. But discussions have been going on for some time to see which teachers need to be qualified. And I know also, besides the qualification issue, there is also the whole idea of having the amalgamation of schools to see whether or not this efficiency can be developed. But I must say that I am not entirely familiar with that process, because I don’t really deal with that. I deal more with the public officers, the mainstream public officers.”

Duane Moody

“But would it be sir that there is a last in, first out case? Is that the actual protocol that you would go around something like this?”

Charles Gibson

“I don’t think so. I think, from what I understand, really we are trying to find out those persons that are qualified to teach. We have to be real here and we really have to be real in that what we have to find out is that we have people in schools that are teaching our young kids. And if those persons are not properly trained or not properly qualified, then something has to be done to see that that is corrected. And I feel like that is what this process is all about.”

Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.